Class Outline:

Wednesday December 21,2022

MAT 6:9-13

“Pray, then, in this way:

'Our Father who is in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10 'Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

11 'Give us this day our daily bread.

12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

 

The glory of our holy Father, the ways and laws of His kingdom, and His will can fill our inner selves - heaven on earth.

 

HEB 10:14-18

For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,

 

16 "THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM

AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:

I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART,

AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,"

 

He then says,

 

17 "AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS

I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."

 

18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

 

The law of God written on our minds and hearts is an image that means that God’s law becomes a part of our inner selves, our identity and personality. It is more than known, by faith and the Holy Spirit, the truth and the laws of God just as much a part of us as our personal preferences (foods and activities).

 

We cannot obey God’s will unless we are forgiven and cleansed from sin. We must be grateful for the opportunity to obey.

 

This is where gratitude comes in. We can obey righteousness, which makes the greatest life, because Christ died for us.

 

This takes us back to the address in the Lord’s prayer, “Our Father.” We cannot call Him Father without the purification from sin by the Son. Jesus said, “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (JOH 8:34-36).

 

The NT makes it clear that we are free to serve God and serve others. We are free to obey His will. A person set free for a purpose, who doesn’t perform that purpose, or at the very least, seek to perform that purpose, is an anomaly, an oddity, a great design which doesn’t do what it was designed to do (a cure for cancer that isn’t published). A believer will never truly be comfortable and at peace until he or she goes all in. God, our Father, patiently awaits our agreement, while pushing us when we’re taking to long.

 

The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament did not purify anyone. They were rituals that were types of the one true sacrifice to come, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

A covenant is a promise. God made promises to Israel and all but one were unconditional, meaning, they would be fulfilled regardless of what the people did. The one conditional covenant, the Law, was broken countless times by everyone but Christ Jesus. God’s gracious response was to give them a new covenant, which was unconditional, and part of which the church now shares in.

 

God makes clear in this Book of Hebrews that a covenant must be ratified by a death and by blood. The wages of sin is death. The blood of Christ is a phrase that stands for His death, both spiritually and physically.

 

ROM 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

There will always be some mystery surrounding this amazing plan that God decreed, but one thing that we can understand clearly, is that God loved us and sent His Son to die for us, and only through His spiritual and subsequent physical death and resurrection could we be delivered from sin and made new creatures in Christ’s image.

 

HEB 9:22

And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

 

HEB 9:26-28

Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

 

Notice that last part, “to those who eagerly await Him.” This is similar to the petition, “Your kingdom come.”

 

HEB 10:10

By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

Sin’s penalty is death; not only physical death, but judgment unto the second death, which is spiritual death. This awful death is separation from the presence of God forever. It is the awful lake of fire. God calls this death. Death is a curse. It is the penalty of sin. It is terrible. Hence, eternal life is oppositely beautiful and full of light. Christ became our substitute so that we would not have to be judged by the infinitely holy God.

 

As such, all believers are forgiven, cleansed, and sanctified, and because we are, the Lord indwells us, the King, and the laws and ways of the kingdom, if we choose to learn them and put our faith in them, can be written upon our hearts and minds.

 

Peter opens his second epistle with this in mind. He begins with the glorious nature of our salvation and then to the purpose of that salvation - quality of life under the will of God.

 

Being saved in order to be free, which is the freedom to do God’s will, if we fail to live in the manner for which we have been designed, by a Designer who cannot err, then all we can expect is confusion and struggle.

 

2PE 1:1-11

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

 

To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

 

Let’s divide this passage into the two parts it naturally falls into.

 

2PE 1:1-4 The reason for obedience to divine virtue.

 

2PE 1:1-5

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

 

To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence …

 

Received a faith of the same kind (same precious [isotime] faith).

By the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ

 

Grace and peace

Multiplied to you

In the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord

 

Everything pertaining to life and godliness

By His divine power

Through the true knowledge of Him

Who called us by His own glory and excellence.

 

Let us be grateful that we can obey righteousness. If you are not, pray and meditate on the gifts God has given you.